The Time Shadow
by Erash
Summary: Hiraishin no Jutsu. One of the most intricated Techniques of all time. One should not just play and interfere with the fabric of Space-Time, but our sixteen-years-old Minato Namikaze had yet to learn it. Both Minato and Naruto centred. TIME-TRAVEL. NO PAIRINGS. CANON-BASED.
1. PROLOGUE

**Title** **: The Time Shadow**

 **Main Characters** **: Minato Namikaze, Naruto Uzumaki.**

 **Secondary Characters** **: Jiraiya, Kakashi Hatake, Others.**

 **Setting** **: After the Second Great Shinobi War for Minato, before his learning of the Rasenshuriken for Naruto.**

 **Disclaimer** **: I obviously do not own Naruto.**

 **A/N** **: So, this is my first Naruto fanfiction and I have not write so much in general. English is not my main language and I hope my mistakes won't mind you too much.**

 **This is a PROLOGUE. It isn't that important for the plot I have in mind. I could have easily started with the next chapter, but I needed to do this and give you an insight of Minato first. I hope you like how I characterized him, even if this chapter isn't that long.**

 **Both Naruto and Minato will be sixteen.**

 **No pairings (or at least, not centered on pairings).**

 **Time-travel (I hope you'll like it even if it lack originality on that thing).**

* * *

PROLOGUE

* * *

In was a quiet night. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for once in a while. All the genin teams had already reported their successful D /C-ranked missions, as did most of the chuunin with their B-ranks. Some of them stood sleepily near the gates for guard duty, while the jounin were seen returning from the Hokage Tower after their late reports, presumably about A-ranked solo missions.

ANBU-nin were still probably 'roaming around', doing whatever the Hokage had ordered them to do. However, it was difficult to tell since no standard-nin could easily pinpoint them.

That was why nobody seemed to notice one of them currently sitting cross-legged on the top of the Sandaime Hokake's head at the Hokage Monument.

The young man sat in a sort of meditative stance. Face slightly frowned in concentration, hands resting on his lap. The wind gently brushed his blond hair out of his face, only to keep his course behind him to the trees, breaking the silence it usually reigned there.

The blond shinobi's stillness could have easily fooled most untrained eyes, believing him to be turned into a stone, but the odd picture suddenly broke as the young man snapped his eyes open, revealing a strange tone on yellow, black and orange, but full of determination nonetheless.

The young ANBU stood and took a deep breath. After placing a fox mask on his face, he shunshined out of the place, straightly heading towards the Hokage Tower, intent on finding what he was looking for.

* * *

 _J... J... Jin- UHG. Why there's nothing even here!_

The blond shinobi silently sighed, but his expression betrayed none of his increasing frustration. He began scrutinizing all the J-section of _kinjutsu_ from the beginning… _again_.

Well, there weren't many jutsu starting with the letter J anyway. He quickly realized that. Ne needed to start looking in other sections too.

He sighed again, dejected. After all, he should have not taken for granted that a Jutsu able to made someone a Jinchuuriki would be called Jinchuuriki Jutsu… or Jinchuuriki Seal Jutsu…. or Jin-something Jutsu.

He groaned in frustration, but managed not to make much noise. If someone ever found out that _he_ -the always disciplined and role-model-shinobi in his whole generation Minato Namikaze- was illegally stuffing his nose into forbidden scrolls, looking for something he was absolutely NOT supposed to know… well he would be in very big trouble.

Minato suppressed a nervous shudder and kept on his search. This time, unrolling every scroll whose label might imply that what he was looking for was inside said scroll.

He was not doing something wrong, he kept reminding himself. He just wanted to know which Jutsu turned his friend into a Jinchuuriki and study it, so that he would be able to help her in the future if needed.

He hoped not, but still…

He stopped searching for a moment, remembering the day she confided to him. It had been a rogue day for her, he had been able to see it her watery eyes. She had needed someone to share with her that awful burden, even if it was an SS-class secret. And who would that be if not Minato? They had been close friends since he saved her from Kumo nin that night.

He really cared for her. He would do _anything_ to help her.

The information she gave him surprised him, of course. He had been shocked, but his opinion of her never changed a bit –to her initial surprise- and he swore to himself that she would not ever be alone in this thing. He would be at her side. Hell, we would even become a Seal Master just for helping her!

He stopped his thoughts at that and blinked, bemused, taken aback by his own fierce mental words. Well… it was true that the day after her revelation he had thrown himself head-first into the basic of _fuuinjutsu_ and had read all the information about Tailed Beasts and Jinchuuriki available at the public Library (very little information). However, he eventually came to the realization that he needed to study actual Jutsu on the matter to make a significant step further.

He hated not making steps further.

So. To Hell the good guy for once. He was ANBU. They will NOT catch him.

His Sage Mode strengthened senses alerted him in that instant that someone was nearing his position. He shifted his eyes on the left and focused on his senses again. A faint torch light appeared at the end of the otherwise dark large labyrinth of a room. The sound of footsteps made his heart pound in his chest but he forced his mind to maintain the control of the situation, recalling the simple-but-effective seal he had made to mask his position, making the light subtly divert from him.

It wouldn't work if the light hit him plumb, so he slowly stood and leaned flat against the wall of scrolls in the library, silently wishing to be a Mokuton user and merge with it.

However, the far light merely lit the hallway he was in once before the torch wielder turned it away and kept going in his walk through different ones.

Minato let a sigh of relief escape his mouth, but frowned.

 _Mental note: add some spare ANBU at guard of the kinjutsu when I become Hokage._

He decided it was time to flee. He would just finish checking quickly on the other H-starting Jutsu and then leave. He'd return at the next chance, he promised himself.

He was just going to use the shunshin when the last words he read on the last scroll made him freeze in overwhelming curiosity.

 **Hiraishin no Jutsu**.

 _What…?_

His reserve of Elemental Chakra dissipated and he abruptly exited Sage Mode.

The sudden change made him almost panic as he could not sense everyone and everything in his surrounding with that clarity anymore, but again he forced himself to calm down.

The Flying Thunder God Jutsu, it said. Whatever it was, it had to be _amazing._ Pity he had not the time to unroll it and take a quick look… Maybe only a little peak-

No. He was no more in Sage Mode. He couldn't risk it. He needed to leave _now!_

He mentally groaned in frustration. After all he went through, he just had to leave empty-handed without finding anything of importance about Jinchuuriki. It was so frustrating!

A smirk escaped his mouth as he made a single hand seal and a perfect-looking copy of the scroll pooped into his hands. He quickly switched the two so that the alarm would not wake up the whole village and took the original, hiding it in one of his pockets. Just then, he shunshined away, grinning like a child who managed to steal a candy.

Role-model-shinobi? Well, he felt a little bad for this. There was no excuse for his actions. It was a _kinjutsu_ because it could easily kill the performer. That was the reason he should not… _borrow_ it. But curiosity was practically written in his genes, and he was a studious, he didn't mean to actually use the Jutsu, just study it and understand its mechanics. Science had always fascinated him. He knew for sure that something called 'Flying Thunder God' could not but involve a lot of science before being a Jutsu.

Yes. He had just build himself an excuse for not feeling guilty. Good. Now he would rewrite the scroll on an unofficial blank one and then bring the original back on its rightful place.

Nobody would ever know he would gain knowledge about this Hiraishin no Jutsu.

* * *

Training ground 7. Noon. Nobody in sight (probably eating Lunch). Minato stood with a determined look on his face.

…

 _I'm going to die._

He had just spent the _whole_ week trying to draw the seal that now laid displayed on a standard kunai stuck on the trunk of a tree in front of him.

Actually, to _invent_ the seal. Because yes, this _damn_ Jutsu needed a different anchor seal for each performer. No, he couldn't just copy the Nindaime's one as one would eventually take for granted! Why would it be there then! It took him _three_ days only to _realise_ he needed to build his own seal. And that was ways more easy to say than do.

At the beginning, he had to admit, it excited him. It was like solving a math problem (a very difficult one). However, after _thousands_ and _thousands_ of failed attempts, one simply began to hate and course the thing to the most awful of all the Shinigami's hellish tortures.

And that was just the last part to learn.

The first part was what Minato was supposed to stop at. It was the most difficult, because you don't need big Chakra reserves, great Chakra control, or awesome body strength to perform the Jutsu.

No. You just need a big-damn-sized Hell of a brain to understand all the shit that was in it.

And Minato humbly had it. It took him two weeks of intense study to fully grasp the meaning of all those concepts on his own. Space-Time, fourth dimension, wormholes, distortions of said Space-Time…

It had been hard, but in the end he felt all the information he gathered from the scroll turn into knowledge. He had been satisfied with himself and had been about to burn the copy of the scroll and get rid of all the trails left by his little stunt, but he found himself unable to forget what made the Jutsu so special.

Nobody but the Nindaime was ever able to perform it, and it was because nobody had ever been able to comprehend its deep physical meaning.

Sure, he'd like someone to answer all the questions those odd assumptions triggered, but he could manage. And he did manage! After all, just the fact of being able to finish a seal of that kind was something (even if it didn't work), wasn't it?

What if he was even able to perform the Jutsu?

It was dangerous, he knew. But it was only if you didn't know what you were doing, right? Did he know what he was doing?

 _Maybe I should wait for Sensei to come back…_

No. Jiraiya wouldn't let him do it… or yes? Well… maybe. After getting mad, of course. But he was not here now.

He would not be here for a long while, Tsunade-sama said…

Minato forced his thoughts back on the matter at hand. He needed absolute concentration. If the seal was wrong, he knew nothing would happen. He would need to draw another one, but he was sure this one was good. Now, it was a matter of _how_ activate it. The danger laid there.

" _You need to channel the right amount of chakra into it and be aware of how the time-space envelops around you and forms a wormhole. You need to curve the space-time at the right angle and bring your current position to the one marked by the anchor seal that shall act as a beacon."_

The scroll said it would be much simpler after the first time too…

Theory. It was time for practice.

Minato took a deep breath, help himself with some hand seals (he had to invent them too because at the top level of the jutsu you won't need them and so weren't on the scroll) and shoving the dread feeling aside he activated the Hiraishin no Jutsu.

 _FLASH-_

 _Uh?_

He looked around and found himself standing right beside his kunai on the trunk.

 _Did I…?_

Adrenaline flowed into his veins and his sight fogged in overwhelming excitement.

 _I did it!_

His sight worsened and a feeling of nausea pervaded his suddenly weakened senses. Stumbling a little, he run towards the nearer bush and punctually threw up.

Minato grinned despite the situation. _Just wait for it, Sensei!_

* * *

 **Sandaime Hokage – Third Hokage**

 **Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique**

 **Kinjutsu \- Forbidden Techniques**

 **Fuuinjutsu \- Sealing Techniques**

 **Mokuton – Wood style**

 **Hiraishin no Jutsu – Flying Thunder God Technique **

**Nindaime Hokage – Second Hokage**

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you got a little bit interested! I know nothing special for the plot happened here and I know you had probably found out many mistakes. I'll be more than happy if someone decided to join me on this story in the future and Beta-read it. Please give me feedback if you can. Reviews or only followers would be great! I'll update in these days and hope you will enjoy my work as much as I'm enjoying it!**


	2. chapter 1 - REVERSE

**A/N: GUUUUYS thanks so much for your reviews, favorites and followers! Here is the next one, I really hope you likes it. The offer for a Beta is always up, of course. And remember telling me if Minato's characterization is good. It is very difficult since we don't have canon about his character at this age and I'm practically inventing him (remember he is sixteen, Naruto's age!). I based it as much as I could on the canon we have. So, take a look and REVIEW!**

* * *

-chapter 1-

REVERSE

* * *

"Listen kid. I'll tell you for the last time. _This_ is the price, and it's not negotiable."

A man stood behind the counter, face firm and arms crossed pointedly on his chest. A huge display of army hung proudly behind the massive shoulders.

Minato was not intimidated in the slightest. Above all, he was no _kid_. He narrowed his eyes, raising his chin and pumping air in his chest. "I spoke to your subordinate last time. He confirmed me that if I'd order a set, there would be a reduction."

The man waved his words away, "Bullshit." He grabbed the item laying on the counter that was causing such discussion and raised it at Minato's eye level.

"Do you know what this thing is, kid? It is a _custom-made_ kunai. And what does _'custom-made'_ mean?"

Minato forced himself to look straight, suppressing the sudden urge to roll his eyes and opted for an annoyed glare.

The man didn't stop anyway, "It means I have to order something based on a design never produced before. In other words, _this kunai" -_ and here he waved it- "you designed costed me a fortune!" He calmly put it back down. "Now, do you want to commission a set at their _rightful_ price or not?"

This time Minato did not stop himself from sighing. He rummaged into his pocket with a frown plastered on his face, taking out the required money to pay the sample and laid them on the counter, grabbing his deserved kunai in exchange.

"I need to test this one first anyway. I may come back _someday_ when it won't condemn me under a bridge." He calmly stated, but the last remark revealing his disappointment.

The shop owner toke the pay and merely huffed, going back to whatever he was doing before without saying a word.

 _Hn, what a jerk._

Minato simply shuddered it off and exited the shop, stopping in the middle of the street right outside of the building.

He allowed himself a better examination of the item in his hand. It was a tri-prolonged kunai, whose shape was exactly as he had instructed. It was true, that man was a rude bastard, but he was good at his job. For now, he'd just have to settle with only one of them, Minato guessed.

He hopped on the roof in front of him and jumped his way towards one of the farthest Training Ground, looking forward to try his new kunai right away, undisturbed.

A couple of months had passed since he had managed his first Hiraishin. Nobody had discovered his new technique yet, since because of the ending of the war, missions had become much simpler and there hadn't been a chance to show it off. He also hoped to hide it as much as he could from the Hokage and eventually do it flawlessly when the time'd come, so he would not order him to quit it because of its volatility.

Truth was, he was becoming really good at it. He could already perform it without hand seals! And he'd eventually found himself so at ease with the jutsu that he'd tried to build his own fighting style upon it.

Minato was already known for his speed and had counted on it many times, but with the Hiraishin it was all on another level! The tri-prolonged kunai would grant him more coverage for his attacks. He just couldn't wait to try it!

He reached the first empty Training Ground right then. He tried some swift killing moves with the new kunai for a while aiming at a ghost-enemy's jugular as a sort of a warming up, even if he really didn't need it for the Hiraishin.

Minato set himself in front of a training-mannequin. He grabbed one of his already marked standard-kunai from his pouch and punctually threw it towards the 'enemy'. As soon as it narrowed its head, Minato activated the Hiraishin and combined it with one of the moves he previously tried.

He disposed of the 'enemy' in a swift successful way, with a satisfied smirk plastered on his face.

"What an interesting move we have there."

As soon as the first syllable escaped the new comer's mouth, Minato snapped his head towards the source of the voice, so fast he nearly broke his neck.

"Sensei!" He jumped towards him and landed a few steps in front of him, soft smile and eyes beaming.

His sensei's smirk turned into an affectionate smile in return, then his eyes slightly widened in realization. He reached forward and ruffled Minato's already messy hair. "Hei! You've really grown up, brat. Do teenagers do that in just some couples of months?"

Minato's expression chanced a bit, turning slowly into a frown… all right, maybe more like a pout than he'd admit. He crossed his arms and ducked away from Jiraiya's hand. "You've been out for more than a year. I know there was the war and everything, but when it ended, nearly a _year_ ago, both Tsunade-sama and Orochimaru-sama retured in the village and you obviously weren't with them."

Minato's voice was firm. Objective. No whine could be heard. He was just stating facts, despite the look on his face.

Jiraiya brought his arm behind his head, looking sheepish, "Aah, was it really that long? I thought one of them would eventually tell you."

"They did. And they looked a bit annoyed too."

Jiraiya sighed, his expression turning serious but understanding too. "You know, there was this bunch of orphans over there that needed someone to guide them and teach them… You know my ideals well enough to guess my eventual course of action."

He stopped, and he suddenly leaned forwards, waggling his eyebrows, "What? Were you jealous, little one?"

Outraged, Minato glared at his sensei, replacing his firstly startled look. "Of course _not_! You know I'm better than that!"

He groaned when the smug look on his sensei's face didn't falter, "I'm just saying that you could have at least informed me via toads, and maybe keep me adjourned… You know I was kind of worried!"

Jiraiya let a bark of laughter shake his body. " _You_ worried about _me_? Didn't you hear the news?" Here he pumped air in his chest, placing his thumb on it. " _I_ have been nominated a _Leggendary Sannin_ from no other than the powerful _Hanzo of the Salamander_. I am the one supposed to worry about you, Gaki."

Said _gaki_ rolled his eyes, exasperated. Did this mean he'd start adding _that_ to his already _very_ long introduction speech/dance every time he'd pop in front of others on the top of toads?

Minato sighed. "Yes, I had… Congratulation, by the way."

Jiraiya snickered in response, pleased. "You've survived without me, anyway."

Minato couldn't help an affectionate smile at his sensei's antics. He really missed the man.

Said man's face studied him for a moment, before a flash of curiosity urged him to speak again, "However, how is your Rasengan doing? Did you manage to take a step further?"

A slight confused expression passed Minato's face before it lit in realization. "Oh- _that_! I… uh… I didn't focus on it in this period…"

He then mentally chuckled, he hadn't given a name to that jutsu yet, but when he had first shown his Sensei its theoretical part, he'd just commented it with a _"Practically, a spiraling sphere of Chakra."_ , so the nickname had stuck on the man. If he managed to finish it, he'd have to call it that way, he thought.

Jiraiya looked at him bemused. "Oh, is that so? What then, fuuinjutsu? Did the basic I thought you before I left helped you?"

Minato nodded, thoughtful. When he had first learnt about Kushina's status and had bumped himself into the hard study on the subject of ' _Jinchuuriki'_ , he had found out about this powerful attack of the Tailed Beasts called **Biiju Dama**. It took the inspiration form that for his 'Rasengan' and began to work on it a bit, but among ANBU missions, his study about Jinchuuriki, his study about fuuinjutsu and his late Hiraishin, he really hadn't had time left for it.

His Sensei thought him the genious among all the genious for that brilliant idea. He had felt a little ashamed at the praise… How much time did he have before he'd eventually found out about his knowledge on a village SS-ranked secret? He still didn't know if he knew it!

"Are you ok, Gaki?"

Minato turned his attention back to the slight frown on his Sensei's face. "Uh? Ah- yes… Yes I was… uhm… thinking that maybe, if you're up to, I could show you what I learned by myself and you could keep teaching me about it? Fuuinjutsu, I mean." He suggested.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at Minato's fist hesitation and he felt himself exanimated by his watchful eye, but then he widely grinned. "Of course I will! You are still my awesome apprentice after all, ne?"

Minato slightly blushed at the man's appellation of him and smiled almost shyly. Then he suddenly remember he had to back off… _now_.

"Ehm… I-It's been good to see you again Sensei…" He started taking some steps away. "But I-I have to go know, see ya ok?"

He turned around but froze in mid-step. " _Where_ do you think you are going, Gaki?"

His blank tone making his blood freeze in his veins as he turned his head around, only to find a looming presence right in front of him. He flinched when he noticed a dangerous glint in his Sensei eyes and a creepy smile on his face. He felt sweet dropping down his nuke.

"Am I to assume someone else kept you as a student –a very powerful one, it seems- and decide to teach you a _kinjutsu_ that both the _Sandaime Hokage_ and _I_ and _everyone else_ refused to learn because of the risk it would bring? Because if that's so, I'd really like to meet them."

Minato recollected himself from his Sensei's Killer Intent and managed to shake his head. Jiraiya's face remained the same.

"So, I wonder how it is possible that you know about the _Hiraishin no Jutsu._ Let alone be able to _perform_ it as if you had already trained on it!"

"I-I… ehm… Y-You know, I s-sort of-"

" _Again,_ am I to assume my little dutiful student _illegally_ broke into the kinjutsu's room at the Hokage Tower and _stole_ and teach himself one of the most dangerous and difficult jutsu of all the time?"

Minato gulped, unable to say anything.

…

Jiraiya laughed so hard the whole village might even have heard him, then reached with his arm and patted – _hard_ \- on one of Minato's shoulders.

"You _naughty_ boy! Ah-ah! Next step is breaking into women bathhouses. Just like your awesome Sensei!"

Minato felt the tension on his shoulders release as he let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. It had gone better than he had imagined.

" _Anyway_."

 _Un-oh._

Jiraiya sighed. "I know you much better than you think. You've always been a curious boy from the very beginning and I've always find it a peculiar characteristic of you. In the positive way, of course. And I also know you are pretty smart when you use your brain, _but_ you are not an adult yet, boy."

And there it was the frown/pout again.

"Don't look at me in that way. I trust your judgment. But even if you managed on your own and really _did_ a great job with that technique, I'd really have preferred for you to have waited for me and have worked on it together. It really is a dangerous technique… even for you."

At those words and at the concerned look his Sensei gave him, Minato avoided his gaze and opted for his feet, ashamed. He hadn't felt like a child reprimanded by a father like that in a long time.

"I'm…" he looked up, "I'm really sorry, Sensei."

Jiraiya smiled, realizing his words had finally entered the blonde's skull, and laid a hand on the top of his head. "Lesson learned for next time, then?"

Minato give him one of his wonderful eye-closed smile, but soon he broke the mood, ducking away again and complaining, "Stop doing that, Sensei! I'm not that short anymore!"

Jiraiya laughed. "Alright, alright. It's just habit, sorry." Then he smirked and subtly shifted into a fighting stance. "So. Would you mind showing this newly-Sannin-named Sensei what he had missed for the past year about his little brilliant student?"

Minato smirked back, taking on a fighting stance himself. "Uhm… I don't know. Let me think about it, ok?"

The wind suddenly changed its direction. Minato felt his hair follow its new course as the same was for Jiraiya's long white mane. Taking it as a common signal, both Sensei and Student launched themselves in a long friendly spar.

* * *

They both sat at the table of a tavern in the center of the village, with the remains of their lunch laying forgotten on it.

Jiraiya sat in front of him, on the other bench. His eyes closed and a hand on his chin, analyzing the situation.

"I'm not convinced." He finally stated. "You still can't do it that smoothly, and the margin of error is too big. I'd say to quit it once and for all for your own safety, but I know you won't listen to me on this matter."

Minato narrowed his eyes, thinking. That was what he was dreading. "How could I? I'm not that bad either and I already did the worst part. It's only a matter of practice now."

Jiraiya rested his arms on the table, the concern on his eyes nearly imperceptible. "I won't be that sure, Minato. You can't be with this kind of jutsu."

Silence followed that sentence for a while and Minato decided it was time to drop the matter and looked for a distraction. "So, tell me more about your staying in Amegakure, would you?"

Jiraiya looked a little startled by the change of topic by went with the flow anyway. He started telling him about their fight against Hanzo, exaggerating about his own awesomeness as he always did. Minato had already heard the story by third parties, but enjoyed his sensei's better one with excitement literally exploding out of his blue eyes. He kept on and on and Minato never get bored in the slightest, until he reached the end of the war.

Jiraiya's expression changed only for a split second and he stiffened a little, before he continued. "As I think Tsunade already told you, I decided to stay there a little longer to help some of the war-orphans." He sighed. "Well, I most focused on this strange trio, but what really caught my attention was this special boy…"

Minato kept his ears as open as he could.

Jirayia's face became more serious than what it already was. "You see, he has the Rinnegan."

Minato gaped. "W-what? _That_ Rinnegan? But I thought it was-"

"Yes." Jiraiya cut him off. "That one." Than his lips twitched into a knowing smile. More to himself than anybody else. "Who knows, maybe he'll come out to be-"

He interrupted himself, hesitating and… looking guilty? Anyway, Minato knew what he was about to say. It was that Prophecy-thing he had told him a couple of times. He knew Sensei thought he himself was that child. Well, until now, it seemed.

Minato had never liked it. It was true that Jiraiya-sensei rarely mentioned it, but when he did, Minato had always felt an awfully heavy burden smash on his shoulders. The pressure and fear to fail his Father-figure Sensei nearly unbearable. And he wasn't even sure he believed in that Prophecy.

He should be happy to get rid of it and curse the responsibility on someone else. And he was. Really.

Shouldn't he?

Minato sighed. "Sensei, thanks for the lunch." He raised from his seat. "But I think it's time for me to get some missions or I'll get rusty, ne?" He smiled. One his truly affectionate close-eyed ones. "See you around, ok?"

Jiraiya smiled back as he raised too. "Sure, gaki." Then he added. "Ah! Minato. You reminded me. Don't use it on missions, ok? Give me heed at least here."

Minato looked back, bemused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Stress against an enemy might cause you to loose concentration. I don't plan on rescue you into some sort of different dimension or whatever it is!"

Minato chuckled at his Sensei's antics. "Alright, I get it. I won't use it on missions. For now, at least."

And he was gone with a Shunshin.

"Maa, troublesome child!"

* * *

Minato felt a sense of deja-vu pervading him.

 _I really should_ not _do this…_

No. He really shouldn't. Above all, not after all the talks with his Sensei barely a couple of days before.

And the fact that he felt guilty as hell didn't help either. He could already hear Jiraiya-sensei's outraged shouts as soon as he'd eventually find out about this…

Minato recalled his Sensei's words. He made him promise not to use Hiraishin on missions, against an enemy.

Well, it was night. After midnight to be clear. And he was on Training Ground 38, away from the village. There was no enemy around, so he wasn't breaking his promise, was him?

After all, he did _not_ promise him not to unroll the copy of the Hiraishin scroll he still had to study it further to be able to find something that could help him perform it flawlessly in order to get his Sensei's approval to use it on missions.

He did _not_ promise him to discard one of the most BRILLIANT intuition he had ever had in his whole life while reading again said scroll.

He didn't promise him not to make a try for the greater good. His discovery, if it all went well, would probably shake the foundation of all the existing Time-Space jutsu and be the basis for who knew how many incredible and unique techniques!

Yes, he had to try. Sensei wouldn't let him because he wouldn't understand, but he had to try.

A pang of hesitation hit him as he remembered how he had thought the same thing about his Sensei the first time and then had found himself to be wrong.

But at the same time, he know this would work, as it was back then. If he'd approve, Sensei would surely want to study it for at least a _month_ before trying it. Or even discard it all and throw it in the trash if deemed too dangerous as he also did with the standard Hiraishin.

But this new Hiraishin _he_ created –he'd have to find a name to it (he smirked in anticipation as a flow of long strange names already took his concentration away)-

' _Flying Thunder God: Time Shadow Style' uhm… 'Space-Time Level Two!' eheh. Terrific!_

He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts in line, his excitement failing him.

Again, this new Hiraishin _he_ created couldn't be thrown away. It was just a brilliant-yet-simple idea to reverse it by changing the Space kanji on the seal with the Time's one and vice versa and make the opportune modifications. The principle was simple: if you could travel through space by stopping the time, why couldn't you do the same by freezing the place and let the time flow?

He wanted to try. He needed to try! He couldn't wait for Sensei now. He would not risk.

He looked down at the clock on his hand and grinned. He just wanted to do a jump of mere minutes if he could, some hours he couldn't. The gap should be that basing on the theory. He needed absolute concentration, because basing on that principle, you could travel forward in time…

But not back.

He was no God. He could not tell Time to start flowing backwards, of course. But that won't be a problem, he could skip some hours of this world, after all.

He placed both the clock and the paper where he had written the new seal on the ground, the latter above the former. He couched and let his Chakra flow to the seal to make it stick on the clock.

As soon as the process ended, he stood up again, the grin still plastered on his face. All his guilt, fear and hesitation gone as he gathered more Chakra and made the new hand seals:

" **Hiraishin: JikanKage no shiki: Jiku Reburu Ni**!"

 _FLASH-_

* * *

 _Panic. Colors of all kind spiraled in front of him at what he presumed was Light-Speed. He felt the urge to vomit menace to make him lose his concentration. But he couldn't give up now, he needed to stop the technique or it would be too late._

 _He focused. He searched for the seal with his Chakra. It laid rightly in front of him, and he felt it, but it was a continuum reach-and-lose that he found himself unable to return to reality._

 _He panicked again. He forced himself to calm down, again. He tried… again._

…

 _THERE!_

* * *

-FLASH

"Ouh…"

Minato moaned, devastated. He felt like… he couldn't put it down on words.

He felt like _Hell._

Somehow, he managed to stand on a four-legged position ad throw up. As his stomach decide to give him a break, he slowly shifted away and fall face up, away from the mess.

The moon loomed above him, the cold breeze giving him goosebumps. The dizziness was still fresh on him, so Minato decide it was better to lay there for a while.

Awareness slowly returned and he sighed, a bit relieved.

 _At least it's still nighttime._

With the comforting thought in mind, Minato Namikaze, ANBU nin of Konohagakure no Sato, fall asleep on the hard soil of Training Ground 38.

* * *

 **Rasengan \- Spiraling Sphere**

 **Biiju Dama – Teiled Beast Bomb**

 **Gaki – Brat (affectionate)**

 **Amegakure – Hidden Rain**

 **Hiraishin: JikanKage no shiki: Jiku Reburu Ni \- Flying Thunder God: Time Shadow Style: Space-Time Level Two**

 **Konohagakure no Sato – Village Hidden in the Leaves**

* * *

 **A/N: I know, I know. It was SLOW. Some of you might thing all that Minato/Jiraiya thing was too long and boring. I hope not. It is important stuff for the plot. BUT, if you think it was REALLY TOO SLOW, please tell me. Tell me even if you'd look harsh. I need to know. Was it boring? Too fluffy? AAAHG I DON'T KNOW! I know I really loved writing it, and I only hope it was the same for you reading it. So REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! ENLIGHT ME! I just need to build my writing style, but I thank you all even for only reading it. Thanks a lot!**

 **I can't speak Japanese at all. I'm sorry if I've written an abomination over there… I did my best.**

 **Next chapter there will be my little cute NARU-CHAN! (Sixteen of course, don't panic. It's my way of calling him). As well as the other future stuff.**


	3. chapter 2 - SOLUTION

**A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR FEEDBACKS.**

 **I've read someone asking me if it will be a MinatoxNaruto. I really really love that pairing, but I realized that doing it might decrease the number of followers. Maybe if you really ask me I may write some MinaNaru oneshots based on the universe of this story, but they won't be published here in** _ **The Time Shadow.**_ **They could be something like a fanfic of a fanfic or whatever. So let me know about this.**

 **About information on the story, you'll need to read it to find out! Here is the new chapter. REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT DO YOU THINK!**

* * *

-chaper 2-

SOLUTION

* * *

A blonde shinobi sat on one of the bench of Konoha's outskirts, where the flow of people usually used to lessen. He was leaning on the backseat with his head tilted upwards, facing the afternoon sky with a pair of shiny blue eyes whose color matched it perfectly.

He often wore said eyes in a so expressively way that some might think they saw an open book in them. As it was for now, it was simple to say the young shinobi looked a mix between angry and dejected, with a serious expression stamped on the odd whiskered face.

Anyway, all that lasted for a split second. It was like a snapshot that only an acute and fast observer could catch, because the blonde in question was hardly known to sit still and more seen bouncing his way around with eyes sparkling with determination.

Indeed, the boy bounced up, standing, and groaned loudly. Some pair of eyes actually glanced at him from the sideways, narrowing as they took notice whom the noise came from.

Yes. That shinobi, who was now stumping his way towards Ichiraku's ramen stand, was Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf.

* * *

"Aah, Naruto. If you are here for dinner, I'm sorry to tell you but it's a bit early."

A middle-aged man affectionately smiled down at the new entry, who grinned back sheepishly while taking the seat in front of him.

"Teuchi-san! Yeah, I know but… Do you mind if I wait here in the meantime?"

Teuchi kept the smile still on his face and his eyes softened, knowing the boy too well to notice the sad expression behind the fake wide grin.

"Of course, my boy. I gave Ayame the day off today, so your company will be more than pleasant."

The young orange-clad shinobi nodded, still grinning. This time, the grin really reached his eyes. "Thank you, old man!"

Silence fell inside the stand while the aged ramen expert went in the back-stand to prepare some of the ingredients for later. When he came back, he found the teen staring at the void, looking thoughtful and… sad. It was only then that Teuchi noticed his bandaged arm. Surely, something else was troubling the boy, as it was known that he never used to complain about wounds. However, he decided not to bother him on the matter and opted for something else.

"So, Naruto. It's only you or are you waiting for someone else?"

Naruto blinked once, confused as he suddenly came back to reality. "Uh? …Ah. Actually, yes. Kakashi-sensei offered to treat me after he... uhm… after our talk this afternoon. So I'm waiting for him."

He then pouted, murmuring something about probably having to wait until he'd starve to death. Teuchi laughed at the familiar antics and eventually went back to work when Naruto smiled back.

* * *

Another blonde shinobi with another pair of blue orbs stared at the sky that day, but in a completely different circumstance. That happened when Minato opened his sleepy eyes. A shade of cerulean, orange and pink welcomed his sight as he set his gaze towards the sunset.

 _Did I sleep that long?_

Minato forced the sleep out of his eyes and sit up, suppressing a groan as he brought a hand to his forehead, massaging it to ease the pain. Shame the dizziness remained stubbornly there making him stumble as he stood up. He closed his eyes and waited for a while, letting his mind and body recover from the over-sleeping. He then suppressed the urge to vomit and searched for the clock on the ground. It was supposed to tell him how far did he actually travel forward in time, but it was all above the point now that he had fallen asleep.

 _Darn it!_

He remained slightly surprised when he couldn't find it anywhere around. He shouldn't be, as it had been probably burned to ashes, he told himself.

He sighed. _Didn't anybody notice I was here for the whole day?_ He wondered. Well, it seemed it was true when they said Training Ground 38 was one of the best if you wanted to be left alone…

He started walking towards the gates –walking, not jumping, running or not even jogging… the very idea made his head spin menacingly in anticipation- and quickly remembered why this T.G. used to be so neglected. It was simply that _damning_ far awayfrom the village!

He kept walking, forcing his abused mind to stay empty. He simply enjoyed the smell of nature as he walked through the forest. Sometimes, he passed near other Training Grounds and could see some Genin Teams working with their Jounin-sensei.

He smiled to himself at the epiphany the sight brought. An unwelcomed sense of nostalgia washed through him anyway, at the remembrance of his own Genin teammates. He hadn't grown too fond with them and he felt sorry for that, mostly because of his Sensei who had always wanted him to see all of them as a sort of family.

He just wasn't the social guy at the time. And Sensei was enough of a family to him, so that he could focus on scaling the Shinobi ranks and archive his dream. He soon became ANBU and he would do his best to become Hokage.

He had learnt the importance of friendship at the due time, of course. Nobody ever disrespected him and he became quite the subject of lots of gossip when he was stated Jiraiya's only Apprentice, aside of his Genin's student. He was nowadays still known as a prodigy, but the truth was that he could count his true friends on one hand. His Sensei included.

He felt a headache coming and forced his mind blank again, before keeping waking ahead.

* * *

Minato was roaming the village, feeling a little disoriented… Had that flowers-shop always been there? He blamed his overreacting mind, anyway.

His sense of nausea slowly dropped and now Minato felt nearly fainting he was so starving. He kept going with the intention of stopping at the first food-giver he would find.

Punctually, he found himself in front of a certain new food stand he had never seen before. A ramen stand, judging by the smell.

Well, if something as a ramen stand had opened in the village, it was practically sure a certain redhead he knew too well would be right inside finishing his fifth bowl of noodles.

Minato smiled and walked towards it. However, he felt a little disappointed when no red hair welcomed his sight as he moved the curtains and came in.

"Oh hello, young one. How can I help you?" A man cooking behind a counted politely asked him.

Minato had hoped to find Kushina to have a little chat with her, as she always managed to bring back the smile on his face, but he was starving and needed food _now_. Besides, it would be rude to turn it off now.

"Uh… Hi! I'd like to order something to eat, sir. It's still too early?"

"It is, but only for some few minutes. You can wait here if you want, of course."

Minato nodded his thanks politely and sat two seat away from the only occupied one. He noted the other costumer only then and slightly widened his tired eyes when he locked gaze with another pair of familiar blue ones staring right at him, his blond locks falling in front of him in still a familiar way.

Whatever that feeling was, it quickly passed and the other blonde turned his gaze to nothing in particular, the bored look again on his face. It seemed he had been here waiting for a while, Minato guessed.

The man behind the counter went in the back-stand, probably readying the kitchen. Minato reached for the menu laying on the table and gave it a quick look. He had already decided that he'd order the fastest plate to cook, no matter what it was, but he just wasn't used to awkward silence and was trying to distract himself.

It was of no help the fact that the other guy kept glancing at him, and he was not even bothering to hide it! When he couldn't stand it any longer, Minato decide to speak first.

"That seems to be a nasty injury." Minato tried. His eyes still reading the carte in his hands.

The other boy glanced up at him, surprised to be actually spoken to by a stranger in that way. "Uh?"

"I said, that seems to be a nasty injury." This time Minato raised his gaze and looked at him, with a wondering expression. "Tough mission?"

The blonde in front of him blinked. Twice. Then he frowned, annoyed. "How could you tell?" He then looked at the side. "It's bandaged. You can't see what actually happened." He finally stated, a bit rudely. He moved his arms as if he had been going to cross them, but obviously stopped.

Minato frowned and suppressed an annoyed grunt.

 _Moron._

He focused his attention back at the menu, but he couldn't help a last glance at him. He looked dejected, even if he was trying to hide it. Maybe more to himself than to others.

However, it seemed he realized Minato had actually acted kind to him and eventually decided to go with the chat.

"It was training, not a mission."

Minato met his eyes, acknowledging the fact that he was paying attention.

"Sorry if I was rude before. It's just… Today isn't my day."

Minato smiled, not really offended by him. "No problem, I can understand. We are shinobi, after all." He could tell by the hitai-ate he saw laying on the counter in front of him.

The shinobi nodded, grateful. The silence fall again between the two, but again Minato interrupted it. Curiosity would soon be the death of him, he admitted.

"Uhm… Were you trying a new kind of technique?"

He could see him shift in his seat, uncomfortably. "Yeah. I've been training on it for a while now. And after all the crap I went through to be able to do it…" He clenched his fists and his eyebrows furrowed in anger. "That old rag wouldn't allow me to use it because it could ' _seriously harm_ ' me." He groaned, letting his frustration out.

Minato crossed his arms and nodded in understanding. "You know, I know the feeling."

The other blonde blinked, taken aback. He had been talking more to himself at the end. "Uh, really?"

"Yes. I've just learned a new jutsu and as soon as I showed it to my sensei he practically told me to never use it again."

Minato saw him smile slightly, amused by the situation. He managed to cheer him up a bit, at least.

"Anyway, is that jutsu of yours too dangerous because it hurts your arm?" As the shinbi nodded in affirmation, he continued. "Well, that seems to be a pretty powerful move."

The boy grinned and bumped his fist high. "You can say it! You know, it's a… uhm, combination between the Chakra form and… uh, the element- oh whatever! It's an awesome spiraling ball of chakra with wind making it looks like a big shuriken." He then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "It is kinda destructive, y'know. But anyway..." the sad expression returned, "I can't use it anymore."

It seemed only then that he noticed Minato's expression and he blinked bemused.

" _What?"_ Minato managed to say when he could close his gaping mouth. "You can do _that_? B-But- OH, I was working on something similar but I only theorized it! _How_ could you do that?"

Naruto blushed and grinned at the unspoken compliment. _That_ was surely not what strangers usually said to him.

"Yeah, but it's not all thanks to me, y'know. The idea and the basic jutsu was not mine."

Minato blinked confused. "Is that so? You'll need to show me someday, then. If you're up to, of course."

"Sure. I'll be more that glad, actually! I'm Naruto, by the way." He smiled and reached with his available hand.

Minato slid to the one char next to him and took the offered hand, smiling back. "Minato."

He felt the blond freezing at the name, but it only lasted a mere second. "Uh. That's a powerful name you got." He looked away, an odd expression on his face that Minato couldn't place.

"Oh. Uhm… sure, I guess…"

He then turned back to him, the smile again on his face.

"Naruto, have you ever think about turning your short-range technique into a long-range one?"

Naruto creased his brows, thinking. "Mhm. I've never thought about it, but I don't think I could do that."

"Is your technique self-sustaining?"

"What?"

"Self-sustaining."

"…What does that mean?"

Minato suppressed a sigh. "That it… uhm, sustain itself…?"

Naruto kept the confused look for a while, before- "OH. THAT! Yes, it is! Once you do it, it remain in that way until you hit the enemy. You mean that, right?"

Minato's eyes gleamed then, as they always did when he managed to find the solution of a supposed impossible problem. He smirked. "What do you think about senjutsu? Have you ever heard about it?"

Naruto looked sideways to him. "No." He kept the ' _smartass_ ' comment to himself, after all he was helping him.

"Well, I'm sure if you'd manage to learn to use it, it would help you maintaining the jutsu active even if you throw it. You know, like an actual shuriken."

Naruto eyes beamed with hope and he smiled in anticipation. "Are you sure about it?"

Minato kept the smirk still on his face and crossed his arms. "Pretty sure. I'm a senjutsu user myself."

Naruto jumped on his feet at that, beaming in excitement. " _Really?_ So will you teach me how to use it? Please!" He'd have clapped his hands in begging if he could have been able to. You could see his clearly pleading eyes anyway.

Minato slightly flinched, not expecting that. "Uhm… It's not that simple. You need a summoning contract first and-"

"I already have one!"

Minato looked dumbfounded for a second. "Oh. Good. Then I'm not the one supposed to teach you. You need to ask whomever you made the contract with. They'll be the ones training you in the art of Natural Chakra."

Naruto started pacing inside the little room the stand had. "All right then." He stopped, smashing his fist into his bandaged hand. "I'll find Ero-Senn- OUCH!"

 _Uh? Who?_

Naruto recollected himself. "Thank you so much Minato-san! I have to go now. We'll see each other soon, anyway. That's a promise, dattebayo!"

Right then Teuchi stepped out of the backside. "Naruto! Where are you-"

"I'm sorry old man, but I need to go! Thank you!" He waved to both the stand-owner and Minato before he run away, with a grin so wide Minato thought it could compete with Kushina's.

Teuchi sighed. "Ah, that boy. Always the same."

Mianto turned back towards the man, but said nothing. Did he…?

"Alright, we are ready. What can I serve you?"

Minato smiled, ready to devour the entire stand.

 _YES! Finally!_

"The first thing you have ready, thanks!"

The old man chuckled at the somehow familiar sight he had in front of him. "All right. One miso ramen, then."

* * *

 **Senjutsu** **: Natural Chakra**

* * *

 **A/N: YES. Sorry if it was a bit short, but I wanted to publish it as soon as possible. Next chapter there will be Naruto's scenes described by his own point of you, unlike these ones.**

 **So, what do you think? What will happen now? Am I going to not follow canon? ABSOLUTLY YES. Well, I'll keep the main concepts of canon, anyway. What about Kakashi, Jiraiya, Sasuke, Pain. FOLLOW THE STORY AND YOU'LL SEE!**

 **Also, REVIEW!**

 **P.S. Again, sorry for the mistakes. Betas are always welcomed.**


	4. chapter 3 - REUNION

**A/N: HI GUYS! Sorry for the late update, but I was really busy this week. Anyway, this is a longer chapter. As I promised you, it contains the introduction of NARUTO'S POV. Practically, it gives you nothing more of what you already know about him from Canon. You'll have to wait a bit to see how I'll develop him throughout the story in my personal way.**

 **Enough words! Here is the chapter.**

* * *

-chapter 3-

REUNION

* * *

Naruto ran towards the Hokage tower. He was so fast that he raised dust all over the streets and actually left people's hair waving in the wind as he passed by them.

 _That pervert's better be inside the village!_

He reached his destination within seconds, and before one could even blink an eye, he was already passing through the shouts of an angry secretary and barging inside the room at the top floor.

"TSUNADE-BAA-CHAN!"

The blond-haired woman sat at her desk, busy compiling some modules due to her title of Godaime Hokage, but as soon as the mop of other well-known blond hair entered her sight -and as soon as she heard him calling her _that way-_ , said _baa-chan_ 's nerve became frighteningly visible on her forehead.

" _Brat!_ How many times-" but she suddenly stopped, probably deciding now was not the time for their usual animated banter. She sighed, looking tired. "Naruto. Did Kakashi tell you about-"

"YEAH WHERE'S ERO-SENNIN?"

This time Tsunade actually stood up from her chair behind her desk and raised her fist in a dangerous way. "If you don't stop interrupting me, brat, I'm going to show you what _pain_ really means by sending you _flying_ to the hospital for the next two months!"

Naruto visibly flinched at the threat and heavily sweet-dropped.

 _Better not to piss her off._

He brought a hand behind his head, nervous. "Ehm… S-Sorry. I was just wondering if Ero-Sennin was already back, y'know. I need to ask him something."

Tsunade slowly sat down again and laid her elbows on the desk, resting her chin on her entangled fingers as she always did when she was deadly serious. "Yes, he is. He just returned from his routine spying missions this afternoon." She said with a disturbing blank tone Naruto wasn't used to hear from her, then she narrowed her eyes at him, wary. "What do you need to ask him?"

Naruto suppressed the urge to fidget under the scrutiny of that gaze of hers. What was he supposed to say now? He knew that Hag didn't want him to use the Rasenshuriken anymore, but he wasn't a very good liar. "Uhm… You know, I might have figured out a way to use my new jutsu without harming my arm, but I need to ask the Pervert to help me with it."

He glanced at her face for a reaction and found out she only raised an eyebrow, not really believing his words it seemed. And was that a _smirk_?

"You… _figured out_. Why do I have the feeling this doesn't sound right, uh?"

Enraged, Naruto pointed a finger at her (his available one), his eyes white in fury. " _What's that supposed to mean, you Old Hag!"_

" _NARUTO!"_

-BANG!-

"Oi…" Naruto massaged the already forming bump on his head. "I didn't deserve that!"

" _Shut up!"_ She walked back to stand behind her desk and sat down… "Now, Naruto. Tell me- _uh?_ " …only to find Naruto already running out of her office, _escaping_ her office, shouting over his shoulder.

"I'll explain you better when I'll find him. See ya!"

Tsunade blinked, bewildered by his hasty departure. She sighed at the thought that might imply, who could know what he was up to, now?

* * *

So. Ero-Sennin was in the village, therefore there was only one place to look for him. Naruto reached that place in less than a minute, and too excited to waste any time looking for his perverted sensei, he simply took a deep breath, inflating his lugs at their maximum.

"ERO-SENNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"

Every woman inside the bathhouse abruptly turned around towards the sound of the voice, just on the other side of the fence that marked their reserved area. The instant later, they all turned towards another source of noise, this time very nearer, as a longhaired man stumbled out of a bush with a surprised - _yelp-,_ falling face down.

Naruto waited, becoming more and more impatient, while his sensei got _kicked off_ of the bathhouse by an angry army of women among some pathetic excuses like ' _It's just work business!'_ and _'I was not really spying on you, ladies."_

As soon as the waters calmed down, Naruto walked towards him, an eyebrow raised. Would that pervert ever learn the lesson?

The Sannin groaned as soon as he saw the blond boy. " _Gaki_. You know how things work! I was making my personal researches out there!" He gesticulated towards his previous spot, and then added a grout. "It's good to see you again but why the hell did you do that?"

Naruto sighed. _Of course not._ "I managed to add wind to the Rasengan with the help of Kakashi-sensei."

Jiraiya's annoyance turned into surprise and his eyes nearly came out of their sockets. " _What?_ Really? Not even the Fourth was able to do that!"

Naruto grinned, blushing a little. "Yeah. It's been hard like hell but I did it, dattebayo!"

"So you're here to show me, I guess." Jiraiya snickered. "You're still a brat, after all. Couldn't wait to amaze your awesome Sensei, uh?"

" _Ero-Sennin!_ I'm not here for that, you old egocentric pervert!" Naruto barked, before keeping on more seriously. "I can't use that jutsu _for_ _now_ , because it's too powerful and damages my arm too much in Tsunade-baa-chan's opinion." He waved his bandaged arm to the Sannin that noticed it only then, frowning.

"Hm, that's really a pity, but I'm sure we can find a way out of this." The Sannin replied with a thoughtful expression.

"That's why I looked for you in the first place! I'm not going to give up on it after all the shit I did! And anyway-"

"Watch your language with me, kid. You're still a _brat_!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. " _Anyway,_ could senjutsu help on the matter? I want to learn it, Ero-Sennin! Tell your toads to help me, would you?"

Jiraiya looked stunned by his words and Naruto even managed to distract him with his pleading puppy-eyes, but his sensei soon recollected himself. "First of all, _how_ could you even know about Nature Chakra, let alone know it might really help on this matter when even _I_ would have needed some time to think about it." He frowned. "I don't think I ever touched on the matter with you before."

Naruto waved his arms impatiently. "No you didn't, it was a guy that told me just before. _Now,_ you gonna help me or not!?"

But Jiraiya was not going to wave it off like his student was doing. "Who? Senjutsu is not common knowledge. Whoever told you must have also known how to learn it if he suggested you to ask the help of the toads." He reasoned, his face more serious than Naruto expected.

Finally sensing how important the matter was for the Sannin (and a bit surprised by that), Naruto forced himself to be more patient and gave his sensei more information, but the pout was still visible on his face. "He seemed a nice guy. He told me he was a senjutsu user too."

Jirayia's eyes slightly widened, his muscle tensed at the potential danger. "That's not possible. There's not a single Konoha nin able to use senjutsu apart from myself, and they also are very rare in other countries."

Naruto's eyes widened significantly, not expecting that. So that person was an outsider? But… "But he wore Konoha ANBU's vest. He couldn't be from another country."

Jiraiya frowned even more at that. "That's even worse. He could be an impostor, or maybe I'm not adjourned with some new AMBU's skills, but I doubt it when senjutsu is involved." He paused for a moment, thinking. Then he asked. "Tell me everything you know about him. Did he give you a name?"

Naruto brought a hand to his chin and slightly tilted his head on the side. "Mm I've just met him at Ichiraku's ramen for dinner. He was more or less my age, blond hair and blue eyes, same build as mine." He then slightly frowned. "He told me only his first name, however. Minato."

Jiraiya's heart skipped a beat. "I think I heard wrong. What's the name he gave you?"

Naruto glanced up at the sudden low tone his sensei had used, only to find an odd expression on his face. He frowned, realizing what the matter might be with him and sighed. "Yeah, I know. You heard well. It's the same of the Yondaime, Minato, your previous student, but I think it's just a coincidence…?"

The reaction Naruto got was his sensei clenching his fists, but apart from that he remained as stoic as ever. The seriousness on his face nearly brought Naruto off balance. "I don't think so, Naruto. We have an obvious imposter here. We need to find him and be sure of what we have before reporting directly to the Hokage."

Naruto nodded and followed him as the Sannin jumped on a roof, heading towards the ramen stand. Duty above everything, he told himself. And if that guy would come out to be a threat, he could be sure he would give him a good aimed punch, nice guy or not.

However, that Pervert of a Sensei of his somehow felt in duty to reassure him. "Don't worry, Gaki. We'll deal with your technique as soon as this matter is cleaned."

Naruto smirked. "You bet, Ero-Sennin, or you'll never be able to do your dear _researches_ in peace for the next decade."

Jiraiya shuddered at the mere thought.

* * *

"Thank you so much, Teuchi-san!"

"You're very welcome, young boy. It's been a pleasure to meet you."

Minato smiled and waved at the old man, moving the curtains away and joining the flow of people in the street. He put his hands into the pockets of his ANBU pants and walked vaguely towards his apartment.

He sighed. Now that his stomach was full and his head didn't hurt like before, he had plenty of time to think about what happened just last night. He needed to make the point of his situation, so here were the facts…

One, the jutsu didn't work at all. He just went into Chakra exhaustion before being able to accomplish anything and he fall asleep after that.

Two, the jutsu worked, but he didn't know how much time he did skip because the clock supposed to tell him broke. It could be a minute or a couple of hours judging by the fact that it was still nighttime when he dropped the technique.

Three, and last, he travelled forward in time for a whole day. This was the less probable option because he doubted he had enough chakra to do such a time-jump… That was if his calculation was correct.

 _Mh… Better give it another check when I'm home._

You could never be sure enough. "Ehm, sorry. Could you tell me what day it is?"

The civilian Minato stopped to ask slightly jumped in surprise, as if he frightened her. She did a double take anyway and then gave him a gentle smile. Maybe she confused him for someone else…? "Off course, ANBU-san. It's Sunday." Then she chuckled slightly. "What is it? When they give you shinobi a day off you lost all conception of time? You should rest then, most of all the young ones like you, dear."

Minato smiled sheepishly, "Ehm, maybe. Thanks anyway.", and started walking again after she smiled back.

So, Sunday. That meant he didn't travel a day forward in time, and travelling a whole week was out of discussion. Then since the first two options were equally probable, that meant he'd need to repeat the test. This time with someone who would be willing to witness the whole thing… and keep his mouth shut.

He smirked, 'couse the best person for that role happened to be one of his most dear friends. Also, it seemed Karma was at his side at the moment, because he could clearly identify his unique odd hairstyle in the crowd just a few feet ahead of him.

"Oi, Shikaku!"

Minato increased his pace and zigzagged his way towards him, but he didn't respond to his calls.

 _Lazy bastard. Did he reach a new level of laziness or he just became_ deaf _!?_

"SHIKAKU!"

He finally reached him and grabbed one of his shoulder. The boy in question snapped his head around, surprised.

"Naruto? What are-" Than he stopped, and blinked.

"Shikaku, I need-" Minato stopped, and blinked back.

-Blink-

-Blink-

"You're not Naruto."

"And you're not Shikaku."

The Shikaku-look-alike gave him an annoyed glance, before sighing, bored. _Hell._ Did Shikaku have a twin brother and he _didn't know_?

"I know my father and I look very alike, but I thought at least our age gap would prevent this kind of things." From his face, you could tell he was bored and annoyed, but his eyes were wary and vigilant.

Wait. What?

"Ehm… your father?"

 _No. Please, no._

"Yes, my father. Shikaku."

 _No no no no…_

Minato took a deap shuddering breath. "How old is Shikaku Nara?"

The Shikaku-looks-alike narrowed his eyes at him. "That's a weird question, _ANBU-san."_ But he noticed right away the sheer panic into Minato's eyes and answered anyway. "He is in his late thirties, if you are so interested."

Minato's knees nearly failed him as soon as he heard that.

"You look very familiar, by the way." All the boring stuff out of his face in a blink of an eye. "Too familiar, but I don't remember ever seeing you around, even if you're clearly around our age. What's your name?"

But Minato wasn't listening to even a single word of what the obviously-a-Nara was saying. "Sorry, I-I've got to go now."

He backed away from him and swiftly turned around, running back to where he came from, but not after granting him a perfect view of his face near the ones craved in the mountain behind him.

"…this is way too troublesome." The Nara decided after a close examination of the fourth head of the Hokage Monument, shrugging it off and keeping going wherever he was going before.

* * *

 _This is not possible. It can't be. There's no way._ Shit!

Minato ran back the same road he did before, too busy getting a grip on his mind to notice where he was going.

 _How could that stupid jutsu do something like that? From where the_ hell _would it take all that chakra? It's not possible. That guy was allucinating._

He forced his mind to believe that, but he knew that was not the case. His guts were screaming that to him.

He froze, dreading to let his eyes wander in search of a certain well-known mounting, the Leaf pride. He slowly turned his gaze towards it and two more unknown craved heads looked proudly over the village.

Too stunned to really notice whom the faces belonged to, Minato restarted running, this time in search of someone.

 _Kami… I need to find Jiraiya-sensei! What will he say, will he believe me? Did he really saw me disappear from the face of the Earth to reappear now after who knows how many years? And Kushina? The Hokage? Everybody else? How many will even remember me?_

A horrible, unbearable thought crossed his mind… Were they all still alive? Things changed, that was a certainty, but how much?

This time he went too far. He couldn't come back and fix his mistakes. He was just _screwed_. His whole life thrown away from the window. His relationship with everyone would not be the same even if they were alive. Maybe even his carrier was screwed.

He stopped in his run, unable to keep it up. All the struggle he did to get nearer and nearer his goal… The promise he made himself a long time ago… His desire to never fail his Sensei… Guilt nearly crushed him. He felt so childish and immature like he never did before. It was not supposed to end like this. He needed to be there for Kushina too! His hands trembled at the thought, what if something happened to her because he was not there to help her?

 _I promised her…_

Was this the first time he broke a promise? How could he become Hokage if he was not able to do something so important like help his dearest friend on a so serious matter?

He straightened his back, deciding to take control of the situation. What should he do now? Should he go to the Hokage first and explain himself? He could also check on Kushina or Sensei first, and then act with their help.

The dilemma didn't get to be affronted, because someone spoke from right behind his shoulder, starting him.

"I must say, I first confused you for someone else, but it's enough clear you are not him." A kunai pressed on Minato's jugular betrayed the owner of the uncaring voice's intention.

Accustomed to this kind of situation, Minato left the cursing-himself-for-being-too-distracted-and-letting himself-catch-so-easily for later. He also dropped his entire depressed mood to enter his shinobi mode fully.

He let his gaze wander, acknowledging his surroundings. He was just a few steps from the ramen stand of before.

"Also," The stranger continued, as if he was conversing about tedious things. "I was part of the ANBU just a few years ago. I never noticed you, and I would have known if someone as young as you had joined the ranks… especially with that familiar face of yours."

Minato's mind kept working, trying to find a way out a way to free himself. He didn't really care about how the shinobi was playing with him. And anyway, he didn't seem intent on killing him. Knowing how Konoha used to work –and hoping the system didn't change- he was probably going to be dropped in front of the Hokage him(or her)self. If he wasn't lucky, directly at the T&I department. They obviously believed him to be a spy…

Heck, were there so few ninja left that everybody knew everyone? And what about all that 'familiar' crap? He wasn't that famous back then!

"Care to give me a name?" The shinobi asked, the threat clear in his words.

"Minato." He was in no position to lie.

He felt himself roughly turned around from a shoulder, the kunai still on his previous spot. A serious masked face appeared in front of him, his only visible eye narrowed dangerously. It quickly shifted to follow Minato's face features before turning his focus again on his blue eyes.

The pressure on his jugular increased. "I fail to understand why you would choose this appearance, but I fear I have to bring you to the Hokage. Maybe you will answer truthfully to her?" He stated again with that teasing tone.

Minato sighed, that little he could without getting his flesh cut. "I'll tell Hokage-sama everything she'll want to know." And here went his hopes to find Sensei or Kushina first.

As soon as the silver-haired shinobi moved his kunai away, Minato felt something approach him at an incredible speed. He turned his head to ready himself, but the shinobi's grip on his shoulder prevented him any swift movement. All he saw was a blur of orange and yellow, and then he found himself knocked down to the ground with a dead grip on his collar.

"You _bastard!_ Who do you think you're dealing with, uh? Who are you? Are you a spy from Akatsuki? Was that a way to get to me, back then?"

He was the blond ninja he met just an hour ago at the ramen stand, Minato recognized. He was snarling at him from above him, one of his knees pinned him on the ground.

Minato used all his willpower to not unleash one of his wind-based Jutsu on him and get free. It was not the time to attack, or things would get more complicated than already were.

It was of no help the fact that Naruto tightened his grip on him, shaking him. " _Answer me!_ I don't care if you have the same name as the Yondaime's. I swear I'll punch you so hard you'll remember for the rest of your life!"

This time Minato wasn't able to restrain himself and his instinct took over. He reached with his hand to grab the arm that was holding him by the collar in a so swift movement that before Naruto could even blink, he found himself flying, hitting the ground a few feet away from Minato.

Minato stood, but another figure landed just in front of him. A very tall longhaired man. He stared at him with eyes he never thought he could see on that particular person.

Stunned, disbelieving, wary, angry… and sad. That was what Minato knew his sensei was feeling, only because he knew him that well. He doubted anybody else could say the same, as he probably looked only serious to others.

"Sensei…"

In the meanwhile, Naruto stood up from the ground. The snarl still on his face, but it quickly turned into a smirk. "Pretty fast, but I'm not gonna lose to you. Believe it!"

A strong arm stopped his run towards Minato. "Naruto. You should let me handle this." Jiraiya's low voice sounded in the street. Then, the man turned towards the masked ninja. "Kakashi, take Naruto out of this. And _keep him away_. By force, if necessary."

Kakashi, who had remained there, staring at the odd pair of blondes fighting, turned his gaze towards Jiraiya and narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure, Jiraiya-sama? I can easily take care of him."

Jiraiya's fists clenched, his gaze stuck on the blonde not supposed to be there. "No, I will do it myself. If this is a sort of provocation to me, than I'm going to deal with it."

 _What?_

Minato raised his arms in front of him in a surrender gesture and waved his hands, sweet-dropping at the deadly stare his Sensei was shooting him. "Sensei! No, i-it's me, Minato, your student." He took a step back. "Come on, please. I-I know it's been a while for you but really, can't you recognize me?"

Jiraiya frowned. "Enough. Kakashi…" He gave the silver-haired shinobi a nod and the jounin immediately shushined at Naruto's side, who had been staring at both his sensei and Minato the whole time with a confused expression. He grabbed his arm, starting him.

"Ehi! What the hell are you doing, you perverted- _Get away from me_!"

"Shut up, Naruto." Said Kakashi after a sigh, not really looking forward to the task at his hands.

" _I have every right to be here_! And-"

-FLICK-

Kakashi shushined away, bringing Naruto with him, leaving the two alone in a street cleaned of people because of the mess they did.

Minato sighed. "Sensei please, let me explain."

Jiraiya kept staring at him, wary, but didn't say a word. Minato took that as sign to continue.

"I… I was experimenting with the Hiraishin and I thought I found out a new way to use it, but…" Minato dropped his head and squeezed his eyes shut. "I think I messed something. I don't know what went wrong… I-I…"

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at the boy's slightly broken voice. "If you really are who you claim to be, then just prove it." He stated, calmly. So calmly that it sounded forced.

Minato snapped his head up again, exposing his shiny and slightly red eyes to the moonlight, and to his Sensei. "Ehm, we first met just outside the women bathhouse…"

Jirayia _humph_ -ed. "That's easy to guess."

Minato frowned. "You were spying on Tsunade-sama before she noticed you and sent you flying right a few steps from me. I was eight and…" He chuckled despite the situation, remembering. "You looked so bad that I thought a wild beast attacked you and so I gave you half my ice-cream because I pitied you."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, but still not even a single sound escaped his mouth, so Minato kept going on.

"Uhm… Other things… _Oh!_ The first seal you thought me…" He looked sideways to him. "Was how to increase boobs size by applying it on women's chest." He said as a matter of a fact. _You practically blackmailed me, you old pervert._

Jiraiya started walking towards him, reclaiming Minato's attention. His face was blank, but as soon as he reached him, he could see his eyes sparkling. He took a close examination of Minato, who froze as he noticed the feeling of nostalgia on his sensei's face. He was not ready for it yet. Then, the Sannin brought a hand on his shoulder.

"You really seems to be him… but I don't know how this can be possible…"

"It is, Sensei. As I told you before, I worked a bit on the Hiraishin and really found out a way to… travel forward in time."

Jiraiya reaised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you a little too young to be able to use Hiraishin yet?"

Minato sweet-dropped, nervous. "N-No. I can do it, Sensei."

There was a pause in where Jiraiya sighed. Then smiled. Then chukled. And finally laughed. He laughed so hard that he had to hold his stomach.

Minato looked confused at the display, before frowning annoyed. "There's nothing to laugh at, Sensei. This is my _disgrace_ we're talking about!"

His sensei dried his tears from his eyes. "You never told me you put such a stunt, Minato!" he laughed again. "I think I underestimated both your capability and your stubbornness, if that is even possible!"

Minato blinked. "What… what are you talking about?"

Jiraiya let his laugh slowly fade and then smiled at him. A prideful smile. Why was he giving him a _prideful_ smile? He had just messed everything!

"Sensei." He said with an angry expression. Angry at himself. "What are you saying? Didn't you witness my disappearance about _twenty and more_ years ago, only to have me reappear here at the same age? You should be mad at me! I didn't listen to you and now my life is screwed! And-"

For the second time that day, he felt himself turned around. More gently this time. "For the record, I'm mad at you for doing such a thing, but we'll deal with it later." His sensei stated from behind him. "Now look in front of you."

Minato found himself staring at the Hokage Monument. "I know, we're already at the Godaime Hokage, but-"

"Look at the fourth head."

Minato focused on the Yondaime Hokage's head. It looked like a young man, serious, determined and powerful. His features were too familiar to be a coincidence. And his hair, even if he couldn't see the colour, were cut in a way Minato knew too well… because it was his own.

"Is… is that _me_?"

Jiraiya made an affirmative sound from behind him. The amusement clear in his voice.

"But…" Minato turned to face his sensei. "I'm here. That should be impossible..."

The Sannin grinned. "That's why you have to go back to your own time! As much as I enjoyed seeing you again as a brat, this is not your time and place. Go back and grow as amazing as you already did, son." He patted on his shoulder with so fierce that it hurt, as he always did what he got too enthusiastic.

Minato groaned. He was going to lose his patient soon. " _I can't!_ I'm not a God that can decide to make time starting to flow backwards!" he sighed in desperation. "Sensei this isn't right, it doesn't make sense!"

Jiraiya waved it off. "Don't worry, Gaki. You'll find a way. It's written in history, after all."

Minato clenched his fists in annoyance. He couldn't stand his sensei when he acted that carefree about serious situations!

However, the Sannin seemed notice. "Trust me, ok Gaki?" He said more serious, and then grinned again.

Minato blamed his sort of panic-state for not believing his sensei's words the first time around. He had always trusted him no matter what, and he was not going to start doubting him now. He was an amazing shinobi, and now he could not but be even better than before.

So Minato smiled, nodding.

"Well... better go to Tsunade and inform her. We'll need to send you back as soon as we can. We don't want you to discover too many things about the future. We don't want a paradox to happen, ne?"

"…Tsunade is the Godaime?"

"Yep."

… _Don't overthink yourself, Minato._ He told himself. It was not the time to wonder if he was dead in this time or if he had just retired from his title of Hokage.

His title of Hokage… it seemed like a dream.

Jiraiya pretended not to know what his student was already assuming, deciding to take things one step at a time.

After that, the pair of Sensei-Student headed towards the Hogake Tower to deal with a very tired blonde-haired woman. They would be _very_ lucky if they'd happen to not have to wake her up…

* * *

Naruto _huff_ -ed. Then sighed. And then loudly groaned.

Kakashi-sensei had restrained him on a chair in _his own_ kitchen! Inside _his own_ apartment! That was unbelievable! And now that Bastard was standing right in front of him, annoyed. _He_ was the supposed to be annoyed, not _him!_

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Naruto."

He looked sideways to his sensei, pouting, who answered him with a tired sigh.

"Naruto, listen. I'm tired. It's late. This was supposed to be my day off. Can I go without having you wandering around looking for trouble or am I asking too much from you?"

"Umph!"

He brought a hand on his forehead. "Look, I promised I would treat you to Ichiraku's. You _clearly_ weren't there before, because you had to do whatever had passed into your mind, but the offer is always valid for the next time. And you should not stress your arm." He added, giving it a glance with his lazy eye.

Naruto snapped and glared at him. "It's not that the problem!" He straightened his back. "That guy aimed at me. It was probably from Akatsuki. How can I stay here and _sleep_ when Ero-Sennin is fighting him?"

"Jiraiya of the Sannin is a very powerful shinobi. And _besides"_ He said, cutting Naruto's next protest off, "we still don't know if he really is our enemy, and we have no clue he is from Akatsuki."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "That's nonsense. We don't know who he is, and that means he is dangerous, and that means I have to go and help Ero-Sennin!"

Kakashi sighed. "Maa, you are just too stubborn." He took a step forward and lean on, meeting Naruto's eyes. "Didn't you realize it was a personal affaire?"

Naruto flinched at his sensei's proximity, but gritted his teeth at his words, thinking.

"You should let them have their fight, assuming things will get to that. I took advantage of the surprise effect before and I easily blocked him. He was willing to cooperate. So, do not worry."

Naruto looked at the side, still not entirely convinced.

"He is probably already at the T&I department. If you want, you can ask Jiraiya all you want to know, _tomorrow."_

Naruto narrowed his eyes, recognizing his silver-haired sensei's attempt to drop all the work on Ero-Sannin's shulders. He snapped his head on the side and pouted. "All right, all right. Now free me!"

"Will you go to bed and finally let me have my sleep?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Kakashi got closed to him, releasing a fair amount of killing intent. "If I find out you came out of this apartment and have me tracking you around the village… your arm won't be the only _appendage_ you'll have damaged. Have I been clear, Naruto?"

Naruto gaped and heavily sweet-dropped, trembling in fear. "Y-Yes Kakashi-sensei-sama! U-Understood, sir!"

Kakashi backed away and eye-smiled. "Good"

 _Creepy Pervert!_

"So. Behave, Naruto. Good-night." He waved and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

 _Uh? Wait a minute…_

"GAAAAAAAAH KAKASHI-SENSEI! YOU LEFT ME TIED ON THIS DAMN CHAIR!" Naruto swung with said chair, outraged. "GET BACK HERE, BASTARD!"

* * *

From the rooftop of Naruto's apartment, the masked nin smirked. The moonlight reflexed on his silver gravity-defying hair. He suppressed the shudder caused from the cold night, due to the late hour.

He went on a series of hand seals with a speed only an advanced shinobi could manage.

" **Kunchiyose no Jutsu"**

A ninja dog appeared right beside the symbols. "Oi, what is it at this time?"

"Pakkun, I need you to keep an eye on Naruto for a bit. If he attempts to come out of his apartment, call me right away. I need to check on something."

The ninken yawned. "All right. Just hurry up, ok?"

Kakashi, the Copy-Cat-Nin, nodded, and then started jumping above the roofs, revealing his Sharingan eye to the night.

It was true it was a personal affaire for the Sannin, as he said before, but even if he didn't know him when he was that age, Minato Namikaze had been his Sensei. If there was an impostor taking his semblances, Kakashi Hatake would not be the last to know. He would personally question him and see his Sensei's name would not get tarnished.

* * *

 **Godaime Hokage** **– Fifth Hokage**

 **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** **– Summoning Technique**

 **Ninken** **– Ninja Dog**

* * *

 **A/N: Yeeee. Did you like it? Writing Naruto is so funny! Hope I managed to write everyone in character and that you didn't get annoyed. Was Jiraiya too quick at trusting Minato? Anyway, WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NOW? WHAT ABOUT NARUTO'S PEARS? WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER AND YOU WILL FIND OUT! FOLLOW &FAVORITE&REVIEW!**

 **Reminder: I apologize for every grammar mistake, wrong usage of the past tense, awkward choice of words, un-fluent-ness of sentences, ecc. If someone wants to Beta-read this story, just PM me and let me know. I'm also going to do a lot of re-editing and try fixing as many mistake as I can. The plot and scenes won't change, of course.**


	5. Chapter 4 - ORGANIZING

**A/N: Hi everyone. Yes, I'm still here. I finally went on holiday and I wasn't home, that's why I couldn't update sooner and I am really really sorry for that. Good news for you followers though: this week I'll be home and alone, so I'll write no stop! (lol) I plan on update at least two more chapters besides this in this week, but after that I fear I'll disappear for the rest of August. Starting on September, updates will resume on a regular basis. Don't worry, I won't leave this story like this 'cause I have it all already planned in my mind and I really want to show you all of it! Also, thank you for the huge amount of followers and favorites! I didn't receive a lot of reviews with the last chapter but I don't mind if you are there reading my story, I just thanks a lot the ones of you that keep reviewing 'cause every time you did it leaves me with a dumb smile on my face for the rest of the day! I hope you'll forgive for my delay and that you'll keep giving me advice and feedbacks!**

 **Sorry for the long note, but here is a long chapter eheh!**

* * *

-chapter 4-

ORGANIZING

* * *

In was early in the morning. Naruto had practically never closed his eyes through the entire night. The first thing he did that morning, however, was to pay a visit to a really tired –and in a awful mood- Tsunade baa-chan. He had managed to convince her to take the damn plaster off his arm in exchange of not annoying her for the whole day, opting instead for a soft bandage without a bracer so that it would not impede his movements.

He was now walking through the streets. The shops owners were set up their merchandise as he passed by them, giving him their usual glare, but Naruto's mind was totally elsewhere at the moment.

His thoughts shifted towards last night events, remembering Kakashi-sensei's face –what was visible of it, let's say- when he had come back inside his apartment just after Naruto had finally been able to free himself from that damn chair.

Naruto frowned. He may not be the smartest, but he realized there was something wrong there. All of it starting with one question: _who was that guy?_

Kakashi-sensei had never been one inclined to word to his feelings, Naruto mused. He just wore that bored expression of his, no matter what. But last night was different…

' _He is not an enemy, but new shinobi of the Leaf. Now go to sleep, Naruto.'_ had been Sensei's dismissing words, appearing in front of him without a warning and blocking his run for the door. There had been not a clear threat in his tone, but something in it had confused Naruto. He had never heard that tone in Kakashi-sensei's voice, and before he had been able to ask what he did know, he had shushined away.

Believing him on the fact that that Minato-called shinobi was not a threat, Naruto had gone to bed, suppressing the urge to punch something and settling for a groan instead.

Naruto was now musing on what had that all meant. Was Kakashi-sensei afraid of something? No. It just couldn't be. He had looked more… off balanced (maybe?) by something, but that felt wrong on Kakashi-sensei too.

Why the hell were everybody hiding him something? He was tired of that. Ero-Sennin was going to answer his questions _and_ teach him senjutsu as soon as he would be able to put his hands… hand on him! However, that old toads-lover was not where you expected him to be –the bathhouse- and he was not in the hotels he usually stayed either.

Naruto had learned long ago, during the first months of their trip together, that when the Sannin did not want to be found, you just couldn't. So Naruto had admitted his _temporary_ defeat and was now heading towards the Training Grounds, planning on training himself on the Wind Style. After all, if he wanted to beat some sense into Mr. Avenger he needed to get stronger and stronger, and Fuuton might be the right tool to accomplish that.

Naruto's hand shifted involuntarily to his stomach. He forced himself to not think about the weakened state of the Nine Tails seal. He would just pay more attention during his training and he'd prevent _its_ Chakra to leak out.

 _Maybe I should ask Yamato-taichou if he could come along…_

He shook his head, angry at himself for even think about it, and set a determined expression on his face. He didn't need a babysitter every time he wanted to train. He was a grown-up-ninja for Kami's sake!

Another idea came to his mind and Naruto beamed. That didn't mean he had to go alone! He grinned in anticipation at the thought of a good spar session with his beloved teammates.

He abruptly changed direction and jumped on the nearer roof. Not really noticing how the people near him jumped in surprise and some even left a short scream of fright, Naruto headed towards Sakura's place with a grin on his face.

* * *

Training Ground 7. The same one his old Genin Team once used to train on. Here was where they had told him to go, and here he now was. One hour early, too. He would use the time for a warm-up, he had told himself.

Minato had tried to distract himself with some katas, absolutely needing concentration and the usual blank, cold state of mind of a deadly ninja, if he wanted to show them what he really could do.

However, his own mind was not cooperating. This reality was still shocking him. He still couldn't believe he was into the _future_ … the most rational part of him was pushing him to believe this was only a dream. A nightmare he was going to wake up from, sooner or later.

Sadly, that was not Minato's case. He was where he was - _when_ he was, he corrected himself- and he had to go back to his own time as soon as he could before he would find out something he _can't_ find out. That was what they had told him, but he still hadn't a damn clue about _how_ to do it.

He sighed, defeated. Concentration seemed a too far away goal right now, especially after his conversation with the Godaime Hokage Tsunade-sama of the previous night…

 _Flashback_

 _Tsunade of the Sannin stared at him._

 _Blank of any emotion, she wore the perfect stoic Hokage-face, the one you put despite whatever situation you had to deal with. It felt strange seeing her like that, Minato thought. He dared saying she looked more frightening than usual._

 _Apart from the guards, she had been the only one still awake at the Hokage Tower, as she had needed to do some urgent paperwork, but you could clearly see the tiredness in the bangs under her eyes, and even if her face remained blank, it was not that hard to guess by who she seemed pissed off. Noticing how uncomfortable his Sensei looked, Minato hoped she was more pissed by her teammate than by him…_

 _There had not been a single word spoken yet and Minato was starting to feel awkward at the prolonged silence._

" _Ehm… You look-" Minato started, but soon realized that breaking the ice with something like telling how she looked young despite the years was not convenient… and Sensei's panicked glare confirmed it._

"What are you doing, Brat _," His sensei whispered to him through closed teeth. "_ Get ourselves killed? Shut up and let me speak _."_

 _Before his sensei could add anything else, Tsunade shifted her gaze to her previous teammate, this time showing a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Jiraiya."_

 _A shiver ran up the poor man's spine. He didn't like it when her lip twitched like that…_

" _Did you, by chance, decided to clone your precious student sixteen years ago without telling anyone and_ suddenly _decided to bring it to the Leaf?" She gave an evil sarcastic chuckle. "Because a brat copy of the Yondaime is NOT WHAT WE NEED AT THE MOMENT!" She finished standing up and banging her fist or her desk, her tone openly giving out how deadly serious and_ mad _she was._

 _Jiraiya jumped in fear. "A-Actually," he said, sweet dropping from the back of his head. "T-That situation wouldn't be that bad in comparison with the one we actually are..." He changed his tone, sounding slightly annoyed. "And you're mistaking me for the Snake, I would never do such a thing."_

 _Tsunade didn't move a muscle, apart from the twitching of her eye. Her glare was still stuck on the other Sannin._

 _His sensei pointed a big finger towards him, barking. "This_ brat _here is just as difficult as the other one! It's all his fault!"_

" _Ehi! Thank you so much, Sensei!" Minato said sarcastically._

" _Enough!" She sit down again, regaining her composure, even if you could clearly see it was forced. "Explain the situation, then."_

 _Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, thinking about how to phrase their situation._

" _Tsunade, I've been brought to believe that this boy over here is the true Namikaze Minato." He looked at his previous teammate with the seriousness that always claimed full attention from his audience. "He had managed to travel forward in time to this point. I never knew such a thing happened anyway."_

 _Tsunade frowned. "Are you sure of what you are saying? He could be an impostor." She asked glancing at him and he slightly tensed at the accusation, but she probably already knew she didn't need to worry about that._

" _I kne… I_ know _him better than everyone else, most of all at this age of his. I'm sure this is my student." Jiraiya said gesturing toward him._

 _Minato noticed his sensei's first hesitation, even if it was nearly imperceptible, but couldn't place it._

" _All right, Jiraiya. I trust you on this thing." She paused, then turned her head to look at him. "Minato-kun, I don't know how you did such a thing, but it is of extreme importance that you go back to your time as soon as possible. I am sure you understand why."_

 _Minato nodded, feeling ashamed as he had never felt before. "I understand and I will do it as soon as I can. The problem is that I…"_

 _Minato's cheeks turned into a deep shade of red, angry at himself._ This is what I got for what I did… I'm so stupid!

" _I don't know how to do it. Yet." He continued, sensing his sensei's sympathetic gaze on him, and definitely not wanting it. He didn't deserve it._

 _Tsunade kept staring at him with her serious expression, this time accompanied by a frown. Minato had the courage to look back into her eyes, ready to get any sort punishment for the stupid stunt he had put, but her face suddenly lightened as she smiled softly at him, dropping all the previous formalities._

" _You'll be able to do it, just believe in your capability."_

 _Minato's eyebrows raised. He didn't see that coming._

" _After all, you're still learning…" Her smile turned into a smirk. "…brat."_

" _What… I'm not a brat!" Yes. This was definitely the Tsunade he knew._

 _She didn't respond, staring at him instead. Her amused smirk slowly disappeared and she sighed. "Let's get serious again, shall we? Minato, what did you know about this time?"_

 _Minato frowned. "Only that I will became Yondaime, it seems. Sensei told me that I will be able to go back in time because of that."_

 _Jiraiya flinched at being referred to._

"Jiraiya _!" Tsunade shot her previous teammate a glare. "We are not supposed to tell him these kind of things!"_

" _It was necessary! And besides, you just called him brat version of the Yondaime!" His sensei added something between his teeth that luckily for him Tsunade didn't hear._

 _Tsunade sighed for the umpteenth time that day. "Alright. We need to organize this thing." She said entangling her fingers in front of her, claiming the attention of her audience. "Minato, this thing about being Yondaime was an exception. You are not allowed to know any important information on this time or any time that you'll perceive as the future. I'll give you every scrolls in our possession about Space-Time that might help you find a way back. Jiraiya will help you."_

 _His sensei nodded at him, determined to help him. He also noticed an odd exaggerated glint of happiness in his eyes._

" _Another thing of absolute importance is to keep your permanence here hidden. You will have to stay out of the village for most of the time. People_ must not _recognize you." She stopped, organizing her own thoughts. "People of your age don't know how you looked like at this age, there should not be any problem." She said more to herself, but they heard her anyway._

 _They kept the silence, decided to let her finish what she was planning, as she seemed insecure on something._

 _She started speaking again, raising her head and looking at Minato. "We don't know how long your permanence here will last, so you'll need to maintain yourself in the meantime. I can't put you with the other ANBUs because most of them could easily recognize you. I'll have to put you with the Teams formed by the ones with your same age. Also, as I said before, you can't stay in the village for too long, therefore, every time I'll have a mission for them, you will join them. Is that all clear?"_

 _Minato nodded. It seemed he'd have to get along with the orange-clad shinobi. He hid a smirk at the through, realizing only then how bad he wanted to confront himself with him. There was something in him that… he just had to see him again._

 _Lost in his own thoughts, Minato didn't noticed the look the two Sannin exchanged. He just managed to see his sensei nodding at himself over something._

" _One last thing Minato." Tsunade continued. "I need you to do an assessment to judge your skills." Tsunade stated. "I am sure you are an amazing shinobi, but it will do well to us to see what you can do at this age and refresh our memories. You will be under my command for your permanence here, and I need to know my shinobi's skills as the back of my hand in order to assign them to the right missions."_

" _All right, Tsunade-sama." It was reasonable._

 _She smirked, pleased. "I'm not accustomed to such obedient and respectful brats anymore I'm afraid." She said, earning a slight blush from Minato and a chuckle from Jiraiya. "Your assessment will take place tomorrow morning. I won't be able to assist it myself, but Jiraiya will report me about it. As for your examiner, it needs to be someone whose skills you are not familiar with…"_

 _Minato's adrenaline was already pushing his body to fight, looking forward to a good match. He noticed the smirk on the Godaime before she spoke again._

" _Kakashi…" A blur of black and silver came from above and landed elegantly just a few steps from the side of the Hogake's desk._

 _Minato didn't even flinch, but sure he was surprised there was someone inside who had been eavesdropping their conversation. Hadn't Tsunade-sama dismiss her guards and apply the silencing seals just before their conversation had started? One thing was clear anyway, both the Sannin weren't surprised by that._

 _As soon as the new shinobi raised from his couched position, Minato's eyes slightly widened in recognition._

" _As you have probably figured out, I knew of your presence here from the very start, but I let you stay so I wouldn't have to explain the situation, as I already knew this thing couldn't have been kept from you." She said, the tiredness in her voice beginning to be more detectable._

 _The masked ninja's face was devoid of any emotion. He turned around and glanced at Minato, who soon became, for the umpteenth time, the subject of a stare. Hiding a frown, Minato decided to stare back and couldn't help to notice how familiar he looked. The only silver-haired shinobi he knew (on sight) in his own time was the newly-appointed celebrity Hatake Sakumo. Maybe he was a relative of his, as silver hair weren't that common in Konoha._

 _Focused on the physical features, Minato also noticed the rigidity of his body. It was nearly imperceptible, but Minato's eye was a trained one._

 _Finally, that creepy one-eyed stare of his turned towards the Godaime as she spoke again. He just felt uncomfortable under the deep scrutiny of that gaze, and he didn't know why. Maybe this man had had an issue with his older self somehow, at some time…?_

 _Stuck by his self-made revelation, Minato didn't hear what Tsunade and the shinobi were talking about, probably his assessment. Had Minato been a sort of enemy for him? A role figure? A friend? Who knew? He had been (will be?) the Hokage, so he must had known all his shinobi. He could still ask him what was his problem with him, but he knew it would be pointless because of that don't-tell-him-about-the-future crap._

 _Minato jumped out of his musing as the masked ninja cleared his throat and looked at him. "Tomorrow morning at eight, Training Ground 7." The shinobi said with a low, detached tone._

 _Minato nodded, determined, but annoyed at himself for not paying attention at the details of his assessment._

" _Very well." Tsunade concluded. "You two, you are dismissed. Jiraiya, find the boy a place to stay." Both Minato and his sensei nodded and turned away to leave._

" _Kakashi. Before you go, I have some things to discuss with you…" He heard just before his sensei shut the door behind them. However, he couldn't help the surge of curiosity that pervaded him, because Minato knew he was going to be the subject of that discussion._

 _End Flashback._

"Gaki."

Minato was thrown away from his thoughts by the new entry's voice. "Hi Sensei." He said without turning around, still busy with one of his stances.

Jiraiya dropped from one of the branches of a nearby tree and landed a few feet from him. "Are you ready to fight?"

Minato glanced at him, noticing he was holding a scroll. He sighed. "As ready as I can, I guess." Both Sensei and Student knew well he was referring to his state of mind other than his physical warm up.

"Here, take this." He said, handing him the scroll. "It's a storage scroll. It contains every knowledge we have that could help you, starting from some innocuous books from the public library to dangerous scroll from the kinjutsu section."

Minato nodded and reached with his hand to take it, but his sensei moved it out of his reach at the last moment, casting him a serious look. "I will monitor you, so do not do something stupid with this. Have I been clear?"

Minato would have looked annoyed, but this time his sensei had a point. "All right, all right. I've learned the lesson." And he took the scroll.

Jiraiya walked away and sat under the shadow of a nearby tree, pulling out a note book and starting scribbling something. "I'd give it a look now. You have all the time you need." He added without raising his gaze.

"But it's almost eight…" Minato fairly objected.

Jiraiya chuckled but didn't give an answer, too focused on his work, but Minato decided to listen for his advice anyway. He shrugged and sat near his sensei with the back resting on the trunk of the tree, just like him. He opened the scroll and picked up one random book.

Before he started reading, he glanced over his shoulder to see what his sensei was doing. He soon turned away smirking, shaking his head.

"Some things never change, uh Sensei?" He felt the Sannin turn to look his way, but Minato kept his eyes on the open book on his lap.

Jiraiya started at him. Minato missed the glint his eyes took at the epiphany. The Student, a child intent on studying Elemental Chakra's theory, sitting next the Sensei, a young Jounin that had found his own passion in writing, but still giving him advises once in a while, even if the boy was more talented than people gave him credit for. They used to pass whole hours that way, under the morning sun of Konohagakure no Sato, while Jiraiya's other two students spared nearby.

"No, Gaki. Some things will always be the same." If Jiraiya forced any emotion out of his voice, Minato did not notice.

* * *

Kakashi leaned back on the wall near the window of the Hokage Tower. He was looking at the leaves cradled by the wind, trying to distract himself from the conversation that was taking place inside. The Hokage Office was now occupied by himself, Yuhi Kurenai, his 'dear eternal rival' Maito Gai and his former ANBU partner Tenzo, now known as Yamato. It was in this kind of situation that you could easily notice the absence of their newly fallen comrade, Sarutobi Asuma, Kakashi mused.

Kakashi, still stubbornly focused on that particular leave just above the near roof, pretended not to see how all his dear fellow shinobi shifted their wide-eyed gaze from the big-breasted Hokage to him, probably noticing his lack of reaction to the news the Godaime had just given them, or maybe because they all knew that once he had been really close to the… _man_ in question, so they were probably trying to guess how this odd situation was affecting him.

Well, if they hoped to see under his mask –metaphorically, of course, nobody knew what laid under his _real_ mask- they would be very disappointed, because he himself didn't know how the situation was affecting him. All he knew is that _that_ teenage version of Minato Namikaze needed to go back to his time as soon as possible. It was a mission they all needed to accomplish and failure was not an option. There was not time nor place for feelings. Besides, he was not the Minato Namikaze he learned to know, the one he remembered, so the problem was already solved, wasn't it?

"Kakashi already knew about this, that is why I asked him to gather all of you here." The Hokage spoke again, reclaiming the full attention of her shinobi. "I couldn't summon you formally because our situation is very delicate, as you can see yourselves. We need the utmost secrecy."

They all nodded despite the shock still visible on their face. If the situation wasn't that serious, Kakashi might have thought it was funny.

"I wanted to inform you because our _little_ problem would spent most of his time with the Rookie 9 and the members of Team Gai. That's because we can't let anybody recognize him, so I couldn't let him join ANBU and the ones younger than him are too weak in comparison to him."

They all nodded again. They regained their composure but it seemed they all were still too stunned to speak. Or maybe they had so many questions that they didn't know from where to start.

Well, Kakashi would be the first one then. "I already told you this yesterday, Hogake-sama, but I think I should ask again." He began, speaking for the first time.

They all turned their head to him, curious. The Hokage, however, narrowed her eyes to him.

He continued. "Is it wise to let a young version of the Fourth Hokage get near the Nine Tails vessel?"

Only Kakashi and Tsunade were able to read between the lines: was it wise to let the father get near the son? Kakashi didn't know Minato-sensei at that age, but he knew he had always been known for his sharp mind. It won't take long to him to guess Naruto was his future son, and if things didn't go well, he could also find out about his state of Jinchuuriki, and _that_ could not happen. They had to avoid any sort of paradox if they wanted the universe to keep existing.

"Kakashi-senpai has a point." Yamato interjected. "Naruto's seal is weakening, so there might be a possibility that Yondaime-sama could see him under the control of the Demon."

Tsunade smashed a palm on her desk, cracking it. "Naruto won't fall under the control of the Demon anymore, and _you,_ among everyone, will be the one preventing it." She said slightly raising her voice and shooting the poor Mokuton user a death glare, who slightly paled.

She laid on the backseat and sighed, reveling how stressed she was. "We can't afford the Nine Tails to do any further damage to both Naruto and the village. So, let's not start from situation that aren't supposed to happen."

"H-Hai, Hokage-sama." He nodded.

Tsunade leaned forward again. "Besides, knowledge about Bijuu and Jinchuuriki was even less common in the past than now, and the fact that Minato did-… doesn't come from a shinobi clan helps on the matter. He would not recognize him as a Jinchuuriki, so we could easily lie to him on that." She spoke the last part looking towards Kakashi, as an answer to his previous question, but Kakashi was still uncertain about that. After all, the father/son dilemma was still there.

"So, you want us to keep an eye on him and our previous Genin Teams to be sure his identity remain a secret and that he won't learn anything important about this time. Am I right?" Kurenai guessed.

Tsunade looked at the only other woman in the room and smirked, satisfied. "Exactly."

She glanced at the clock on the wall and turned her narrowed eyes to a certain masked ninja. "Don't you have someone to test, Kakashi?"

He glanced at her and mentally sighed. Why did she has to make him do that? Oh, right… He had sneaked inside her office the night before… Fair enough.

"Kakashi, you are dismissed. The rest of you, open your ears. I will give you more details about this situation."

Still forcing himself not to sigh, Kakashi jumped out of the window without any dismissal word. His meeting with his little Minato-sensei was at eight and now it was eight, so that meant he still had a couple of hours left, maybe even more.

 _I think it's finally time to beat my previous record in lateness…_

Hatake Kakashi was known for his lateness because he used to stand in front of a certain person's grave for most of the time. This time would not be otherwise, just that the grave would be another one's.

* * *

Naruto and Sai had finally reached the end of the village and were heading towards the Training Grounds area, deciding on silent agreement to walk the path through the trees instead of jumping their way above the branches. After all they weren't in a hurry, so the simple walking was fine.

"Aah! I still can't believe Sakura punched me only because I asked her to come along for a spar!"

"From what you've told me, you erupted into her bedroom, waking her up." Sai pointed out. "Maybe girls doesn't like it when they are sleeping." He paused for a moment, then took out a notebook from one of his pocket, writing something on hit.

"Uh?" Naruto glanced at him, then laughed. "Try as you can, buddy. _You_ will never be able to understand girls, let alone understand Sakura, believe me."

Sai stopped walking. "And why would it be that? For what I see, you don't understand her either." He said with his usual neutral voice.

Naruto wheeled around and smirked at his Root-nin friend. "You know, I've already developed a sort of immunity to her fury, so I don't need to understand her. We will be the perfect couple one day, believe it! Eh-eh."

Sai deadpanned. "That's not what the lump on your head is anything to go by."

Naruto _humph_ -ed and waved his words off, mumbling something that sounded a lot like _"details",_ and kept walking ahead.

Suddenly, the sound of someone fighting nearby drew the two Team 7 members' attention. It seemed to come from the T.G. number ten.

Naruto grinned, recognizing the voices. Without a warning, he jumped on the branch of the tree in front of him and headed towards them, with Sai trailing just behind him.

"Ehi, slow down! What are you doing?"

"We will see if our friends are up for two more shinobi for their training session!" Naruto shouted behind his shoulder, still grinning.

 _And with some luck, maybe I'll bump into that ANBU shinobi that looked too much as a spy to me._

Indeed. Naruto had been not only looking for his Ero-Sennin that morning, but he had also keep an eye open for the sudden blond peer he didn't know he had inside this village. Considering that Kakashi-sensei had told him he was not a spy, it meant that he was free to roam around, and given that he hadn't see him in the village, he might be training here in the surroundings, if the baa-chan hadn't given him a mission yet.

He smirked. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he just couldn't help but look forward to confront himself with that shinobi. Maybe it was his air of know-it-all Naruto had always found irritating in everyone that made him look for a fight with him, or maybe he just wanted to see how strong he was out of simple curiosity, or _maybe_ he didn't trust him and wanted to make him prove his 'innocence'.

 _Ah, screw that. I'll just kick his ass off when the time comes._

They landed just on the border of Training Ground 10, where the previous Genin Team 10 members were arguing among themselves.

"Ahg! It's not my fault if big-boned here can't control his own Jutsu!"

"What? It was you that were driving me and nearly broke my neck! I still can't understand why you always need to blame everyone but you even when it's obvious it's your fault, Ino."

"It's because it's _not_ my fault! If you didn't drop the Jutsu so early it would have worked!"

"Wake me up when you two are done, ok?"

Both Ino and Choji glanced at their third companion as he walked away and sat under the nearby tree. It was there that they noticed that they were not alone anymore. Ino squeezed her eyes while Choji waved at them.

"Hi guys! What are you doing here?"

Naruto and Sai both approached the pair. "Just wandering if you were up to some spar sessions. The more we are the merrier, ne?" Naruto said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Naruto! Get lost." Ino shouted with a white death glare. "We are doing something important here and we don't need you to distract us! However…" She plastered an inviting smile on her face. "Sai, if you want you can stay and watch. Your presence is very welcomed." She said grubbing the Root-nin elbow as an invitation to join them.

"Oh… R-Really?" Sai glanced at his fuming blond teammate for support, but didn't seem to notice him.

"Well, I don't think you are that busy! Shikamaru is taking a nap, for Kami's sake!" Naruto barked, pointing a finger at the laid down figure on the side.

"I'm awake."

Naruto turned his head and narrowed his eyes at him, annoyed.

"Besides," The Nara continued, sitting up. "We have worked on the Ino-Shika-Cho combination enough. What we need now is someone to test it and train it on." He reluctantly stood up and approached them. "Then, our best choice is either someone really fast…" He smirked and looked at his two teammates. "Or someone expert in Kage Bunshin."

Naruto grinned. "Eh-eh, that's me dattebayo!" He couldn't help the surge of adrenaline at the challenge. He had been planning to work on Wind-based Jutsu, but he was also damn curious about this combination Shikamaru was talking about.

Ino snorted and crossed her arms, looking at the side. "Fine. I'd never dream of defying your logic, Shika."

"Alright then!" Choji said, falling into a stance just behind Shikamaru. "This time don't underestimate the hardness of that rock, Ino, ok?"

Ino laid a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder while he couched to prepare himself for the Jutsu.

"And you, Choji, don't be so dumb to bump the Jutsu just when I am going to hit rocks." The blond kunoichi replied.

Naruto jumped and made a back flip to distance himself from the trio. He let his gaze wander around for the last time to be sure, then raised his hands and formed the ram seal for his trade-mark technique.

 **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**

Twenty or so of his clones appeared beside him, all of them smirking at their opponents. Sai stood beside them and fall into a stance, refusing to just sit and watch.

Naruto felt Shikamaru narrowing his eyes at him. "Are you waiting for someone, Naruto?"

Naruto blinked. _What?_ "Ehm… No why?"

"It's from when you appeared here that you keep watching around. Are you looking for someone?"

Ino, Sai and Choji looked a Shikamaru, confused. "Shikamaru, what are you talking about? He came here just some minutes ago and I thought your eyes were closed." Choji reasoned, but the Nara kept his gaze firmly on the blond shinobi, causing them all to look at him too, curious.

Naruto slightly widened his eyes.

 _Is it that clear? Maybe I'm just too paranoiac… I really should let the matter go._

He frowned. "No it's… It's fine. Just let's focus on this battle." He gave them a wide grin, maybe a bit forced but a grin nonetheless.

Shikamaru kept the serious expression on his face but decided to focus on the battle too, because he was the one to begin their combined technique.

 **Nikudan YoYo no Jutsu!**

Naruto glanced at Sai, who nodded back. He returned his gaze in front of him to find the display of a spinning Akimichi, controlled by a really focused Yamanaka, using the means of a shadow wielder Nara.

"Human Bullet YoYo, then?" He smirked. All his previous problems, worries and complications momently forgotten. His entire concentration now laid on the challenge in front of him.

"Really nice."

And the training session began.

* * *

 **Taichou** **– Captain**

 **Senpai** **– Superior/Senior**

 **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** **– Shadow Clone Technique**

 **Nikudan YoYo no Jutsu** **– Human Bullet YoYo Technique**

* * *

 **A/N: I hope it was not boring. Please review me if you think you have an advice, or review in general, you know we writers always appreciate it. I want to remind you that I won't pair anyone. Everything is based on canon characters at this point of the story. I aim to leave them as much in character as I can and eventually develop them in my way as the story goes on. So, despite what you read in this chapter, no NarutoxMinato (as much as I like it) and no NarutoxSakura. Minato and Naruto will bond a lot though, but it will be based mostly on friendship, a little rivalry and then you will see in the future, but not romance.**

 **Also, I don't know if I writed Kakashi's POV well. I've not read many stories based on him, so I really ask your opinion here, 'cause I'll probably need to write from his POV again in the future.**

 **So, be ready for my first battle scene: Kakashi vs Minato! How is it going to end? Will Minato be able to surprise our impassible masked ninja? REVIEW-FAVORITE-FOLLOW and you will see what will happen next!**


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